US: General Electric workers sue Monsanto over PCBsby Carey Gillam, ReutersJanuary 4th, 2006More than 500 General Electric Co. employees have sued Monsanto Co. along with two related companies, claiming they were exposed to toxic chemicals manufactured for decades by Monsanto, the company said Wednesday.

US: F.D.A. Puts Restrictions on Guidant by Vikas Bajaj, The New York TimesDecember 28th, 2005The Food and Drug Administration yesterday released a warning letter it sent to the Guidant Corporation, restricting the ability of the company to win approval for some new medical products. In the letter, sent a week ago, the agency said Guidant, the heart device maker, had not fully responded to its concerns about manufacturing procedures at the company's biggest plant.

AFRICA: Death By Dilutionby Robert Cockburn, American ProspectDecember 20th, 2005When fakes of a GlaxoSmithKline anti-malarial drug turned up in Africa, authorities assumed the drug giant would want to know. Instead, they learned about a huge, evil trade in fake drugs -- and about an industry that doesn’t want the truth to get out.

INDIA: Testing Drugs on India's Poor by Scott Carney, WiredDecember 19th, 2005Multinational corporations are riding high on the trend toward globalization by taking advantage of India's educated work force and deep poverty to turn South Asia into the world's largest clinical-testing petri dish.

UK: Tobacco giants face smuggling finesby Tom McGhie and Dan Atkinson, Financial MailDecember 18th, 2005Giant tobacco firms face punishing fines of more than £350m a year if they fail to help squash a smuggling racket that costs the Treasury billions in lost revenue.

US: DuPont fined more than $10M over Teflonby Randall Chase, Associated PressDecember 14th, 2005DuPont Co. has agreed to pay $10.25 million in fines and $6.25 million for environmental projects to settle allegations by the Environmental Protection Agency that the company hid information about the dangers of a toxic chemical used to make the non-stick coating Teflon, officials said Wednesday.

US: Big Tobacco Outspends Stop-Smoking Programs 28 to 1 Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids November 30th, 2005There is a growing gap between the inadequate amounts states are spending on tobacco prevention programs and the record sums the tobacco companies are spending to market cigarettes and other tobacco products, putting at risk the nation's progress in reducing youth smoking, according to a report released today by a coalition of public health organizations.

US: EPA, DuPont in Settlement Over ChemicalThe Associated PressNovember 29th, 2005Federal regulators have reached an agreement with DuPont to settle allegations the company hid information about the dangers of a toxic chemical known as C8 used in the manufacture of Teflon.

INDIA: Health Minister: 'Coke Plant Will Not Be Allowed to Function' The HinduOctober 25th, 2005Health Minister K.K. Ramachandran on Monday said the Government "would not allow the bottling plant of Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt. Ltd. at Plachimada to reopen against the will of the people." (Mr. Ramachandran is the first Minister to have visited Plachimada where the local people have been waging an agitation for the last three years demanding the closure of the company for allegedly exploiting the groundwater, leading to shortage of water for drinking and irrigation purposes.)

ECUADOR: Amazon Indians say Texaco left damageby Gonzalo Solano, Associated PressOctober 20th, 2005About 50 Cofan Indians, some holding handkerchiefs over their faces to fend off an acrid chemical stench, gathered around two contaminated open pits they say were left behind and never adequately cleaned up by the former Texaco Corp.

US: Smoking the fast-food industry: Fight against warning labels reminiscent of tobacco frayby Thomas Kostigen, MarketWatchOctober 6th, 2005The state of California is suing nine top food manufacturers, including Burger King, Heinz and McDonald's, over their reluctance to issue warnings that some of their snacks could contain the potentially cancer-causing chemical acrylamide.
Acrylamide was found to be linked to cancer in 2002. Then, the Swedish Food Administration reported high levels of it in carbohydrate-rich foods, such as french fries and potato chips, cooked at high temperatures. Studies indicated the chemical caused cancer in rats.

US: F.D.A. Had Report of Short Circuit in Heart Devicesby Barry Meier, The New York TimesSeptember 12th, 2005Months before the Food and Drug Administration issued a safety alert in June about problems with Guidant Corporation heart devices, the agency received a report from the company showing that some of those units were short-circuiting, agency records obtained by The New York Times show.

US: Vioxx Verdict Raises Profile of Texas Lawyerby Alex Berenson, The New York TimesAugust 22nd, 2005Merck is found liable for the death of Robert C. Ernst, who died in 2001 after taking Merck's painkiller Vioxx for eight months. The jury awarded $253.5 million to Carol Ernst, Mr. Ernst's widow and Mr. Lanier's client, in one of the largest damage awards ever to a single plaintiff.

US: Drug Industry Creates Voluntary Ad Guidelinesby Jennifer Corbett Dooren, Dow JonesAugust 3rd, 2005Responding to increased criticism from Congress, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, announced a set of voluntary guidelines aimed at governing the way drugs are advertised to consumers.

US: Wal-Mart Is Focal Point Of Democrats' Health Billby By Amy Joyce, Washington PostJune 23rd, 2005Several congressional Democrats introduced a bill that would force states to report the names of companies that have 50 or more employees who receive government-funded health care, an effort to pressure Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in particular to improve employee health coverage.

NICARAGUA: Chiquita's Children
by By Nicolas Bérubé and Benoit Aquin, In These TimesMay 23rd, 2005In the ’70s and ’80s, the banana companies Dole, Del Monte and Chiquita used a carcinogenic pesticide, Nemagon, to protect their crops in Nicaragua. Today, the men and women who worked on those plantations suffer from incurable illnesses. Their children are deformed. The companies feign innocence.

WORLD: The Truth about McDonald's and Childrenby by Morgan Spurlock, IndependentMay 22nd, 2005Obesity rates in American children remained stable throughout the 1960s, but they began to climb in the 1970s. In the past 20 years, the rate of obesity has doubled in children and trebled in teenagers. Kids are starting to clock in as obese as early as the age of two. If we find that surprising, we shouldn't.

US: Is Fast Food Just What the Doctor Ordered?
by Melanie Warner, New York TimesMay 2nd, 2005In the last two years, at least two dozen leading nutrition scientists and experts have started working for large food companies, either as consultants or as members of health advisory boards. Most do not directly promote products, though Dr. Arthur Agatston, a practicing cardiologist and author of "The South Beach Diet," has a licensing deal with Kraft Foods to sell a line of South Beach foods, which are appearing on supermarket shelves this month.

LATIN AMERICA: New Gold Rush Runs into Opposition
by Mark Stevenson, Associated PressApril 12th, 2005A surge in world gold prices is attracting U.S. and Canadian companies eager for another crack at the Latin American lodes that once enriched the Old World. But their modern-day methods -- strip mines and cyanide-based refining -- are meeting fierce resistance.

SOUTH AFRICA: Durban's Poor Fight For Clean Air by Grant Clark, BBC NewsDecember 14th, 2004If a poor community believes it is being poisoned, how can it find out if its fears are justified? Grant Clark visits South Durban, where outdated government legislation has left locals fighting their own battle for the truth.

USA: Drug Companies Pushing ADHD Drugs for Childrenby Kelly Hearn, AlternetNovember 29th, 2004As public scrutiny of drug companies grows, so do questions about what critics say is a vast over-prescribing of MPH, especially as more adults are taking other MPH-based medicines such as Concerta. Many in and outside the scientific community suspect the dubious marketing tactics of big drug money have fueled the spiraled use of MPH.

US: How Schering Manipulated Drug Prices And Medicaid
New York TimesJuly 31st, 2004$345.5 million settlement by Schering-Plough to resolve a government Medicaid investigation provides a detailed glimpse into how drug companies can manipulate prices to overcharge state and federal programs.

US: A Record Year for Shareholder Activismby G. Jeffrey MacDonald, Christian Science MonitorJune 28th, 2004Question: What single force can get Tyco International to strive for cleaner emissions, inspire PepsiCo to study the impact of AIDS in developing nations, and even get Merck & Co. to declare its intentions to not manufacture an abortion pill? Answer: shareholders.

US: Want Cancer With That?
by Starre Vartan, AlterNetJune 1st, 2004Carbs have been taking a beating lately, and the news isn't getting any better. A pending lawsuit filed against fast food mega-corps McDonald's and Burger King may leave one of America's most beloved junk foods with a cigarette-like warning label: "May cause cancer."

US: Health Advocacy Group Warns of Conflicted Scienceby J.R. Pegg, Environment News ServiceJuly 14th, 2003Powerful corporate interests continue to use science and scientists to manipulate public opinion and influence public policy on health and the environment, experts say. The public may be aware of several prominent examples such as lead, tobacco and asbestos, but the "publicized cases are the tip of the iceberg," said Drummond Rennie, the deputy editor of the "Journal of the American Medical Association."

INDIA: Holding Corporate Terrorists Accountableby Indra Sinha, AlterNetMay 6th, 2003At noon on May 1, two Indian women, watched by a crowd of sympathizers, seated themselves on the sidewalk under the bull statue on Wall Street to begin "a fast unto death." Rasheeda Bee and Champa Devi Shukla are survivors of what the people of Bhopal still refer to as "that night."

WORLD: Factory Farms Growing in Developing NationsEnvironmental News ServiceApril 22nd, 2003Factory farms are expanding into developing countries, bringing these nations a wealth of environmental and public health concerns, finds a new paper by the Worldwatch Institute.

South Africa: Indigenous Group Wins Rights to its Healing Herbsby Mercedes Sayagues, Inter Press ServiceMarch 28th, 2003ANDRIESVALE, South Africa, Mar. 28 (IPS) -- In a victory for indigenous groups, a landmark profit-sharing agreement has been signed providing credit and compensation to one of South Africa's oldest groups with extensive traditional knowledge of healing plants and herbs.

ARGENTINA: Leap in Unsafe Abortionsby Marcela Valente, Inter Press ServiceMarch 12th, 2003Hospital admissions arising from unsafe abortions in Argentina rose 50 percent in five years, and multiplied by a factor of 2.5 in some provinces -- a lethal consequence of the economic crisis and soaring poverty.

USA: Bush Blocks Cheap Drugs for World's Poorby Charlotte Denny, Guardian/UKFebruary 19th, 2003George Bush's close links with the drugs industry were last night blamed for the failure of talks in Geneva aimed at securing access to cheap medicines for developing countries.

UN: Water Deemed As Public Good, Human Rightby Gustavo Capdevila, InterPress ServiceNovember 27th, 2002The United Nations Committee on Economic, Cultural and Social Rights issued a statement Wednesday declaring access to water a human right and stating that water is a social and cultural good, not merely an economic commodity.

US: Cosmetics Industry Approves Controversial Chemicalsby Cat Lazaroff, Environment News ServiceNovember 20th, 2002The U.S. Cosmetics Ingredients Review panel has approved the continued use of phthalates in cosmetics, concluding that the chemicals are "safe as currently used." Activist groups, noting that the European Union has just ordered the phase out of some phthalates in cosmetics, said the panel's decision leaves U.S. women at risk of exposure to chemicals that some tests suggest may be linked to birth defects.

Taiwan: Workers Link Cancer to RCA Plantby Matthew Yi, San Francisco ChronicleMay 24th, 2002While many laud the globalization of technology as a positive force that spreads the wealth and helps industry grow, a group of Taiwanese workers came to Silicon Valley Thursday to tell a different story.

ECUADOR: Farmers Fight DynCorp's Chemwar on the Amazonby Jeffrey St. Clair and Alexander Cockburn, CounterpunchFebruary 27th, 2002The International Labor Rights Fund has filed suit in US federal court on behalf of 10,000 Ecuadorian peasant farmers and Amazonian Indians charging DynCorp with torture, infanticide and wrongful death for its role in the aerial spraying of highly toxic pesticides in the Amazonian jungle, along the border of Ecuador and Colombia.

Bayer Won't Pull Poultry AntibioticsBayerWatch.comNovember 1st, 2001Recent threats of bioterrorism have highlighted how important it is to safeguard the effectiveness of America's antibiotics supply. But when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently proposed a ban on the use of certain antibiotics to treat sick chickens and turkeys, Bayer Corporation refused to comply.

USA: Crumbling Public Sector Makes Country Vulnerable to Bio-Terrorismby Naomi Klein, Toronto Globe & MailOctober 24th, 2001Only hours after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Republican Representative Curt Weldon went on CNN and announced that he didn't want to hear anyone talking about funding for schools or hospitals. From here on, it was all about spies, bombs and other manly things.

TURKEY: Court Bans Cyanide Gold Process Near Ancient Townby Jon Gorvett, Environment News ServiceJanuary 16th, 2001Despite an order from the country's Supreme Court backing up environmentalists, the pressure is mounting this week for the reopening of a controversial mine in one of Turkey's most visited tourist areas.

US: Vermiculite Products Could Expose Consumers to Asbestosby Cat Lazaroff, Environment News ServiceFebruary 15th, 2000The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is investigating whether products made from vermiculite could expose consumers to asbestos. Preliminary test results on common household products indicate that a particularly lethal form of asbestos fibers contaminates some attic insulation, but researchers do not yet know whether normal use of these products could endanger consumers.

Bordering Injusticeby Traci Griggs and Martha Valds, La JornadaDecember 9th, 1998Non-profit environmental justice groups such as the San Diego-based Environmental Health Coalition (EHC), are trying to remove the rose colored glasses and expose the harsh reality of the U.S/Mexico border in an attempt to protect public and environmental health. EHC's battle against an abandoned maquiladora turned toxic dump, serves as a microcosm of what's wrong with border health and how NAFTA, for the most part, has exacerbated the problem.

A Movement Blossoms: Cross-Border Activism Picks Up Speedby Kent Paterson, BorderlinesOctober 20th, 1998In October 1998, after years of protest by an unprecedented bi-national coalition, the proposed Sierra Blanca nuclear waste dump was defeated. The proposed site for the commercial nuclear waste dump was just 16 miles from the Texas-Mexico border.

Death, Neglect and the Bottom Lineby William Allen and Kim Bell, St. Louis Post-DispatchSeptember 27th, 1998St. Louis-based Correctional Medical Services leads the expanding field of private companies providing medical care behind bars. The industry tries to keep a low profile, but a five-month investigation by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch found a disturbing pattern of deaths and untreated illnesses behind bars.

US: Disney Shows Two Worldsby Mark Fritz, Associated PressSeptember 30th, 1996Because Disney World controls so much of its corporate and municipal universe, it can't help but act in a heavy-handed manner in order to ferociously protect its self-interest.